David Bowie's 'Next Day' video gets adult-only rating on YouTube

LONDON (Reuters) - David Bowie's latest music video featuring him as a Christ-like figure surrounded by women in skimpy outfits and priests in a bar was slapped with an adult-only rating by video sharing website YouTube on Wednesday.

The video for the single "The Next Day" was temporarily pulled from YouTube with a screen shot saying it had been removed because its content violated YouTube's terms of service, according to the British singer's publicist.

The video also stars Oscar-winning French actress Marion Cotillard as a woman with stigmata with blood spurting from her wounds as well as Gary Oldman as a priest condemning Bowie.

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A spokeswoman from Google Inc.-owned YouTube said the video was removed but then returned to the website with a restriction for viewers aged 18 and above.

"With the massive volume of videos on our site, sometimes we make the wrong call. When it's brought to our attention that a video has been removed mistakenly, we act quickly to reinstate it," the spokeswoman said.

Written, conceived and starring Bowie, "The Next Day" video was directed by filmmaker Floria Sigismondi.

Bowie surprised fans and the music industry in January with the unexpected release of the single "Where Are We Now?" on his 66th birthday and the announcement that an album of new recordings would be issued in March.

His new album, also called "The Next Day", put him back on top of the British album charts for the first time in 20 years.

Bowie had shunned the limelight since suffering a heart attack on tour in 2004 and last performed on stage since 2006.

Produced by his long-time collaborator Tony Visconti, "The Next Day" is Bowie's first new work since "Reality" a decade ago, and his first chart-topping success since 1993's "Black Tie White Noise".